


somewhere or other

by raddled



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, spoilers up to manga chapter 386
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23246692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raddled/pseuds/raddled
Summary: “Really?” Tsukki’s face said from the screen. “Beer for dinner?”-Tsukki shares some news.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 15
Kudos: 163





	somewhere or other

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers up to manga chapter 386/wsj issue 14 (2020)

Tetsurou got the text a little after lunch time.

His screen lit up quietly with the notification before fading back to black, catching his eye. He felt his cheek lift first, and then he was smiling into his palm. Across from him, Ando was mumbling under her breath, flipping through her notes, her coffee forgotten. He glanced at her once before grabbing his phone, holding it under the table and unlocking it with his thumb.

The text said, _I got it._

He was grinning now. His fingers flew across the screen. He sent back, _yeah?_ followed by, _show me show me show me._ He copied the message and sent it twice more for good measure.

The reply was instantaneous. _Are you a child? Stop spamming my phone._

_i wanna see!!!!!!!!!!!!! quickly, before this chapter kills me._

A gap of a few minutes. Then, _Ok? Die then._ Tetsurou let out a puff of laughter. The next message said, _I already packed up. I have to go to the library._

“Looks like someone special.” Tetsurou looked up to see Ando smiling at him, her highlighter poised over her notebook. He felt his grin grow wider.

“Something like that,” he said easily. He glanced back down, typing quickly. _okay_ , he said, _don’t study too hard!!!!!! your poor, beautiful brain._

_Whatever_ , came the reply. And then, _Tonight?_

_tonight!!! (╯3╰)_

He put his phone to sleep without waiting for a reply, slipping it under his notebook. Someone in the study hall laughed once before quieting down. Softer than that, the murmuring of discussion groups and the hum of the air conditioning. The early spring light from outside fell warm onto the carpet.

Tetsurou glanced out the full-length windows onto the driveway below, where the plum trees were only just beginning to come into bloom. He was still smiling.

-

“Are you hungry?” said Ando later, as they were packing up. Half the hall was empty, although the better lit corners were filling up again with students coming in after dinner. The light from the windows cast long, blue shadows, shivery with leaves from the trees outside. “I’m meeting Yuka for some food.”

“Thanks, but don’t worry about it,” Tetsurou said. He slung his messenger bag over his head and glanced one last time at the table to make sure they didn’t leave anything. Their footsteps echoed in the near empty corridor as they made their way downstairs. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of date night.”

“Shut up,” Ando said, amiable as ever, “It’s only Sukiya.”

“Romantic,” he said, dodging easily when she aimed a kick at his ankle. “It’s fine, I’ll just grab something on the way home.”

“Okay,” she said. “Did you finish Chapter Eleven?” They chatted all the way to the station, the vapor from their breaths coalescing in the cool evening air. Tetsurou waited politely while Ando fumbled in her purse for her train card, and then waved good bye as they parted after the ticket gates.

“See you!” Tetsurou said, slipping his wallet back into his pocket. “Monday again?”

“Monday!” Ando called back, and then she was lost in the crowd.

Tetsurou glanced up at the schedules before heading down the stairs, the updraft from the tunnels below pushing at his legs, at his coat. At the platform, falling into line automatically, he pulled his phone out of his coat. There were a few texts, none of them urgent, and a reminder from his bank about updating his PIN. The train was coming in two minutes. He pulled up the conversation from earlier.

_i’m headed home_ , Tetsurou typed out, fingers clumsy in the cold. _maybe at 10?_

And then later on the train, floor rumbling under his feet: _miss you (╥_╥)_

His phone buzzed in his hand. _Ok 10_ , it said. _Safe trip home._

-

It was 9:59 when Tetsurou finally settled in front of his laptop. He rubbed a towel through his hair quickly, scattering droplets, before reaching for the plastic-wrapped chopsticks from the konbini. They snapped apart easily in his hands. He took a bite out of his beef bowl and glanced again at the time on his screen.

10:01.

Another bite.

10:02.

He cracked open his beer and took a sip. The familiar jingle of an incoming call started playing, and he swallowed quickly, choking on the fizz a little as he fumbled with his trackpad.

“Really?” Tsukki’s face said from the screen. “Beer for dinner?”

“It’s Saturday,” Tetsurou whined, before holding up his microwave dinner. “I got gyudon. Did you eat?”

“Yamaguchi stopped by earlier to celebrate,” Tsukki said. The colors on the screen washed out his hair, the brown of his eyes. “We had vegetable curry.”

The sound crackled a bit as he picked up his laptop and settled down on his bed. From where he was leaning against the pillows, Tetsurou could just make out the corner of the corkboard he kept on his desk. There were notes pinned to it, the handwriting neat and too pixelated for Tetsurou to make out.

“Oh, sounds good! I want some,” Tetsurou said. “Did Yamaguchi make it? You took a picture? Show me.”

“It’s just curry,” Tsukki said, wrinkling his nose. Tetsurou felt a warmth spread in his chest. His fingers twitched, aching to touch. “You know what curry looks like.”

Still, he pulled out his phone and tapped on it a few times. Tetsurou’s buzzed on the table with the notification. He pulled up their chat and found a selfie, taken by Yamaguchi. He and Tsukki were leaning over Tsukki’s dining table, a pot of curry and two bowls of rice just visible. Yamaguchi was grinning ear to ear, his free hand held up in a peace sign. Tsukki was looking uncertainly at the camera, like always. Tetsurou laughed and saved it to his camera roll.

“So cute,” he said, glancing back at his laptop screen. Tsukki was looking away, pursing his lips. Little things like that were always enough to get him to blush, but the bluish tint of the lighting made it hard to tell. Again, a familiar disappointment curled in Tetsurou’s stomach. He brushed it away. “Tell Yamaguchi to save some for me next time. Did they give you a nutrition plan yet? Are you going to learn how to cook?”

“I know how to cook,” Tsukki said, his shoulders rising up a little. “I just don’t know how to make curry.”

“Or katsudon,” Tetsurou said, laughing. “Or nikujaga. It’s cool, next time I’ll teach you. We can just stay in and get fat eating home cooked meals.”

“Or die of food poisoning,” Tsukki said dryly. He fidgeted, the microphone catching and amplifying the rustle of cloth. He was already under the covers. Tetsurou knew from experience that the heat would be turned up to at least 26 degrees, and that Tsukki kept a fleece blanket folded at the foot of his bed “just in case.” He smiled thinking about it.

“Do you start training soon?” he asked. “When are they putting you into the official roster? Ah, geez. I wish I could be there for your first day!”

“I start training with the team next week, but I won’t be joining the roster officially until preseason. And don’t be ridiculous,” Tsukki said, “You can’t come. You have to study.”

“Tsukki!” Tetsurou whined. He picked up his bowl again, eating quickly, talking in between bites. “So mean. Whatever, I’ll find a way. It’ll be the end of the semester soon, anyway.”

Tsukki hummed in reply, pulling the blankets up over his shoulders. His duvet was different from the last call; he had changed his sheets. Tetsurou remembered this one from last year’s Golden Week when Tsukki had just moved in, Tetsurou coming early to help with bringing up the boxes and setting up furniture.

By then it had been warm, but Tsukki had slept wrapped up in the sheets anyway, the top of his head barely visible. Tetsurou had woken up first, sunlight from the windows hitting his eyes. He’d run his hand over the length of the duvet, barely touching it, watching as it rose and fell with Tsukki’s slow breaths.

It wasn’t always so bad. They had LINE and video calls every week. Sometimes Tetsurou would pack his notes and his books and his iPad and take the overnight bus up to Miyagi, the train when he had a little extra money. Sometimes, listening to Tsukki on a call sounding close enough to touch, it was almost easy to forget that they were over 350 kilometers apart. But the blue light and his otherwise silent apartment was enough to remind Tetsurou where he was.

“Hey,” Tetsurou said a little later on. “Don’t fall asleep yet! I want to see your jersey.”

Tsukki’s eyes snapped open. “You couldn’t have asked that before I started dozing off?” he said, scowling. But he got up anyway, ever polite, the view changing as he put his laptop down and climbed out of bed.

“I forgot!” Tetsurou said. Tsukki was already somewhere offscreen, unzipping a bag. “I wanted to talk to you so bad. But now I wanna see my sexy pro volleyball player boyfriend in his sexy pro volleyball team jersey.”

Tsukki’s head popped into view. “Don’t call me that, or I’m ending this call.”

“Tsukki,” Tetsurou said, putting his hands together in front of his face. “I’ll be good! Please show me the jersey.”

He was frowning, but Tetsurou knew it was just embarrassment. There was a rustle of plastic and then Tetsurou was looking at a square of bright green, the colors washing out in the lighting. Most of Tsukki’s body was still offscreen; he was holding the jersey out gingerly, like it was something that had fallen from the sky onto his lap.

Tetsurou couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing. “Oh man,” he said. “ _Tsukki_. It sure is green, huh?”

“Shut up,” Tsukki mumbled, scowling. He moved back into frame, folding the jersey onto his lap. “You know what it looks like, I don’t know why you asked me to show you. Stop laughing, idiot.”

“It’s special if it’s yours,” Tetsurou said honestly. Tsukki made to push his laptop screen down. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop! I’m not laughing anymore!” He leaned back against his sofa, wrapping his arms around his knees. The beer can, now empty, clattered at his feet. “You like the number?”

Tsukki looked at him through the screen, confused. “It’s whatever,” he mumbled, shifting on his knees. “It’s just a number.”

“It’s your professional debut number,” Tetsurou reminded him. “This is the number that’s going on your Wikipedia page, Tsukki! It’s a pretty big deal. Me, I like it,” he added thoughtfully, and put his chin on his knees. “Seventeen. It sounds strong, reliable. The Sendai Frogs’s dependable shield.”

“Okay,” Tsukki said. “Don’t quit med school. Sports writing isn’t your forte.” But his expression was fond, if exasperated.

“Sendai Frogs’s shield,” Tetsurou said, grinning, “ _Hopping_ in to deny a spike— Kidding! I’ll stop! Geez, don’t end the call!”

“I’ll have to, anyway,” Tsukki rolled his eyes. “Even if you weren’t being ridiculous, it’s getting late. You need your sleep.”

“Tsukki,” Tetsurou said, despairing at the thought of ending the call but buoyed by the thoughtfulness. “That’s so sweet… You’ve got a crush on me, don’t you? Don’t be shy, you can tell senpai.”

“Tetsurou,” Tsukki said seriously. “Don’t come to any of my games.”

“Harsh! But fair,” he said, sighing dramatically. “I’ll just watch you here from Tokyo. My pro volleyball husband, off to scare hitters and rake in the Pocari Sweat endorsement money.” He’d meant it as a joke, but the delivery didn’t quite hit. Onscreen, Tsukki hesitated.

“I’ll be coming down next weekend, remember,” he said after a moment. “You can pick me up at the station this time. Or… you know. Whatever.”

“Yeah?” Tetsurou teased. But it was enough to perk him up. “Little old me? And I can take you out to lunch this time?”

“Nowhere expensive or fancy,” Tsukki said quickly. “But besides that, anywhere is fine. My Pocari Sweat money isn’t coming in until next month, anyway.”

“What am I gonna do when all the girls join your fan club, Tsukki,” Tetsurou said mournfully. “You won’t even let me take you out on a nice date. They’re going to think I’m a sham. I’ll have to hide out in Kyushu and live forever in shame, penniless.”

“An ¥800 monthly membership fee isn’t going to bankrupt you,” Tsukki said dryly.

Tetsurou gasped, affronted. “You’re going to make me _pay_ to be part of your imaginary fan club?” he demanded. “I’m your boyfriend, I should be free of charge! I’m practically the founder!”

“My brother and Yamaguchi would beg to differ,” Tsukki said, and then flushed.

“Tsukki!” he cackled. “Oh, man, I should’ve recorded that! Next time.”

“Shut up,” Tsukki grumbled. He mimicked Tetsurou’s position, folding his legs and resting his chin on his knees. He yawned, his hand going up automatically to cover his mouth. The sleeve of his pajama shirt fell back to reveal a slender wrist. Fondness sat in Tetsurou’s mouth, sparking at the backs of his teeth.

“I should probably let you rest, huh?” he said gently. He reached out a hand to the screen, caressing the pixelated curve of Tsukki’s cheek. The glass stuck to his skin, making the movement jerky. “I guess I could use some sleep, too.”

“Hmm,” Tsukki said, shrugging. Their eyes met through the screen, Tsukki’s grayish and desaturated from the usual golden brown, but still sharp. His mouth quirked. “Good night, then. Tomorrow again.”

“Okay,” Tetsurou sighed. “I have to go to the supermarket for some extra groceries, maybe around 2?”

“Sure,” Tsukki said, picking up his laptop and climbing back into bed. A few moments of rustling, the click of a switch, and the screen went black save for a halo of light. Tsukki moved back into view, lying on his side, his glasses gone. “Don’t spend all your money on expensive food this time.”

“People need vegetables to _live_ , Tsukki,” Tetsurou said. Tsukki yawned again and wiggled a little under his duvet, his cheek rounded from the pillow. “Hey babe… tomorrow can you send me a pic of you in just the jersey? A little fan service for poor old Kuroo Tetsurou back in Tokyo?”

“Good _night_ , Tetsurou,” Tsukki said, and slammed his laptop shut.

He sent a LINE sticker of a cat settling down to sleep a few minutes later, so Tetsurou counted it as a win.

-

A little before lunchtime the next morning, Tetsurou’s phone buzzed while he was checking the heat of his pan. He tossed a fistful of chopped onions and some mirin and soy sauce in, the sound of sizzling filling the room, and then wiped his hands on a towel and took a look.

The first said, _Premium tier content only._ The next was a picture of Tsukki in his Sendai Frogs uniform, the green fabric unnaturally bright under his bathroom light. His hair was still tousled from sleep, half his face hidden by his hand and his phone. The number 17 was just barely visible.

Tetsurou grinned, admiring the line of Tsukki’s shoulders, the fit of the sleeves over his arms. He sent back a sticker of a cat rolling around, and then a sticker of a bear tossing money into the air.

_best ¥800 ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ he replied. _how much for a pic w/o the shirt????????_

_Go away_ , was Tsukki’s reply, but Tetsurou knew exactly what he meant, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> my first hq fic!!!!! kuroo hasn't shown up in the newest arc yet so here's a fantasy where he's a medical student pining after professional volleyball player tsukki while he goes off to war... something like that!!!!!
> 
> thanks so much for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


End file.
